Attacking long pushes
Table Tennis Match Strategy
Last updated 6 years ago
martin k Asked 6 years ago
Hi there,
I play quite often against a left handed player who really enjoys long pushes. A mostly defensive player that prefers using his backhand all over the table, but if the ball pops up he will counter with either his backhand or forehand. Anyway, if I serve short backspin to his backhand or forehand, I will mostly get a fast and long push back. Either straight very far into my backhand corner, more into the middle near my cross over point or long and wide into my forehand corner. And mind you, those are really fast and long with some backspin. More often than not near the end line. I do not know about any other player that hits the edges or clips the net more often ;) Very annoying.
If I just stay passive and push long back, he will just continue with long pushes until the ball pops up. My strategy so far has been to just attack with a topspin on the 3rd ball, no matter what. This is with varying success, especially on the backhand. First, it is hard to anticipate if I get the ball back to my forehand or to my backhand. Just after the serve, I try go get into position just about a relaxed arm length from the table. Still, I find it difficult to loop it properly back. It feels like the ball is already there before I can do anything and mostly goes into the net, or off the end of the table. Surely, probably a better backhand looping technique is needed, but I wonder if this is mostly due to my feet position. Maybe I just not move enough to either side, or even move unconsciously towards the table.
If I manage to attack it on my forehand, it feels like the ball is quite often on the side almost into my body and already dipping too far down to make a good return.
I feel I cannot continue just pushing long back because then I am playing my opponent's game, being passive and losing. I therefore rather attack already on the third ball. What would be your strategy on how to deal with those long, aggressive and well placed pushes?
Alois Rosario Answered 6 years ago
Hi Martin,
I would try serving long and fast to him. If he is passive and pushes the ball back it will give you more time to see the return rathe than off a short serve that he can push aggressively from closer to you.
You can mix up the length a bit on the serves.
I would continue to pursue trying to attack at the first opportunity. It sounds like he is very comfortable with the pushing game and it really isn't your forté.
You can still work on your topspin against backspin strokes. The better you get at these the more comfortable you will be to make the attack effectively.
Give that a try to start with and see ow you get on.
Thoughts on this question
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Mark H Posted 6 years ago
Hi Martin,
i was struggling with the exact same problem as you with my regular partner . Alois is correct in saying ( of course)that long serves are good alternative to win the point by stopping the awkward pushes. I also found that serving no spin serves with my backspin serves really helped me win more points by getting weaker returns. You also mentioned you didn’t know if you was going to get the return to your FH or BH. It helped me to get a more predictable return by using sidespin on my short serves.
martin k Posted 6 years ago
Thanks guys, a lot of good advice here :) I do vary my serves when playing games, and giving a no spin from time to time is effective although still might result in a long push. I just need to get used to the different spin on the return to put on pressure. Some side spin is a good idea too, I tried to utilize it more today. Giving long serves is a bit risky, but I use those too. The problem is the guy is good at attacking longer serves too, but definitely not all of them. What I really hate is that he stays longer from the table is able to move quite well to get everywhere with his backhand. I have trouble finding the cross over point, and suddenly you get a good forehand back.
I also noticed that getting those long pushes into my backhand, requires quite a bit of a different technique to lift them. I really have to accelerate more and use my wrist to get the ball over the net. Again, I might be too close to the table, but it is hard finding the right spot. On the forehand, it is so easy to get the shot too close to the body before doing something useful.. but moving my legs has to be so precise to stand correctly. Working on it though.
Mark H Posted 6 years ago
Martin,
It seems we are at about the same point in our devolopment . A useful tip I picked up was that a serve to the middle will tend to get a serve to the middle back so you can use your forehand as third ball . Also think about stepping around a bit more on your BH side to use your FH. I’m currently spending a lot of practice time on my BH loop against backspin. For me it’s been a much harder stroke to learn than the FH version.
I too stand to close to the table and have been working on rectifying this while practicing my serve. For a long time I just used to stand at the table after serving watching how much spin I had on the ball when I should have been serving and then getting into the ready position by stepping across and taking a step back( on a pendulum serve) . I previously kept getting jammed up on a quick push return and this was the reason why !.
martin k Posted 6 years ago
Thanks, that's also a good tip about serving to the middle. Today I got really frustrated, the guy started serving mostly short light backspin w/sidespin serves to my forehand and those require quite a different strategy. The spin is very much too light for my level to play a decent low and short return. I might need to work on my forehand flick which of course is rather mediocre, especially against backspin balls. Anyway, it was able to get him to serve more serves to my backhand during training so maybe it is possible to do the same with those short forehand serves :)
martin k Posted 6 years ago
And I have to add, the game started really bad with 5 - 1 against me, then I took six points in a row, got really frustrated and lost 11 - 7, or so. This is very typical, I have to build a huge lead, otherwise I will just lose. I might be too afraid to vary my serves enough, because with too many short serves the returns can be hard to deal with and it is too easy to end up in a pushing game. However, if do vary the result is usually better even if I most often lose. Just getting a few opening loops feels good anyway. Probably best to stick to the game plan.
Luke Young Posted 6 years ago
Heaps of good tips . Great read